Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Phantom Limb

Phantom limb syndrome is the perception of sensations, including pain,
in a limb that has been amputated. People with this condition experience
feelings in the limb as if it were still attached to their body. This
is because the brain continues to receive messages from nerves that
originally carried impulses from the missing limb. I think this says a lot about the power and ability of our brains. The fact that it is possible to feel something that isn't really there is astonishing to me. It makes me wonder, is everything we see, hear, feel, smell, and touch the real sensation? Or is it our body's representation of the sense?

3 comments:

This is a really cool post! I find it incredible that our mind can provide such inaccurate information such as invisible pain. Does this mean that our brains have room to improve or should this be considered a fault in our minds?!

Interesting! My uncle suffers from this because of a motorcycle accident. They amputated part of his leg and he experiences pain from the missing part. They gave him pain killers for it but sometimes he prefers to just power through the pain.

It is amazing how the brain works. In high school, my teacher had an amputated leg and he would tell us all the time how he would feel pain in his foot that was no longer there. I think it is so cool how the brain still receive messages from the nerves of limbs that are no longer there, not that I would ever want to experience it. It makes you think how strong a connection the brain has with the rest of the body. Very interesting post!

Perception

The psychology of Perception involves the interaction of our senses and our conscious mind. Perception is involved in every aspect of our lives as we make decisions and judgments based on what we experience. If you study diligently you will leave this course with a broad understanding of sensation and perception. From this general understanding you will be able to further investigate areas of interest by means of literature review and research on specific topics.